Ascension
by Evan Divine
Summary: Matt's with the flock again, but new trouble is brewing. Are these new people deluded? Or is there something else to them...? CONTINUATION OF THE BODYGUARD! RECOMMENDED YOU READ IT FIRST!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is a continuation of The Bodyguard. read that story first to understand this one. oh, and if you'll notice ive made some redundant explanations to Max Ride. i did that cuz this was originally on dA, where some of my friends didn't understand Max Ride. oh yea, one more thing. all characters that are not part of Maximum Ride BELONG TO ME! no copying, revising, or stealing any of my characters!**

"Yes! New York again!" Angel shouted in joy.

"I'm gonna die!" Iggy half-moaned, half-shouted.

"Fake a smile," I mused, giving Iggy a slight push. Iggy made a face at me. I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor guy though. New York can be so chaotic and noisy and such... it can be pretty upsetting for a blind guy.

OK, in case you're new to this, there's six of us. Actually... seven now. It's still inconceivable to me that Matt's back. But anywho, there's me, Max, age 14. Then there's Fang, 14; Iggy, 14, who is also blind, as I've said above; Nudge, 11; The Gasman, or Gazzy for short, 8; and Angel, 6, and is a mind-reader. That can come in handy sometimes, trust me, but sometimes she likes to use it to her own advantage...

But anyway, long story short, we're a bunch of mutants. We were raised in dog crates at the School, constantly being experimented on, basically tortured, et cetera. But we escaped, and now are on the run from the people from the School trying to get us and bring us back, plus some other people who feel like using us for their own benefit. But we're doing a good job of avoiding them, mostly because our personal bodyguard, Matt, has been protecting us for a little while now. He's 16, but he wasn't an original part of our flock.  
Oh, and if you're wondering why I called us mutants before, I wasn't kidding.

We have wings.

We're part avian, or birds. Some geniuses at the School thought it'd be funny to splice some bird DNA with our own, and now we can fly, and pretty much kick butt. We each have our own distinct kicks in mutations, but we're all part bird. Actually... we think Matt is part bat, cuz we have bird-like wings, and he has bat wings.  
But besides us, we have have Total, who is actually our talking dog, plus Akila, our non-talking dog. But we left them back with Dr. Martinez in Arizona. I didn't feel like bothering with them, and I figured they needed a break.

But anywho, back to the present.

Right now we were just kind of wondering up and down Main Street. Angel was jumping up and down, looking around for possible shops. Nudge was right there with her, chattering away. Gazzy was trying to get Iggy to play a game with him, while Iggy himself was plugging his ears, walking at my pace. Fang was staying quiet, as usual, and looking around for possible threats. Matt was looking around too, I knew he was, but he managed to find the time to agree with Nudge on some topic, or joke with Gazzy. I was kind of fading in and out of reality, from time to time trying to find a good chocolate chip cookie shop to compete with Dr. Martinez...

I gasped as my shoulder got bumped; someone brushed past me and I didn't even notice him beforehand. I turned to see who it was as we brushed past, expecting to see some business man who was on a cell phone or something. But instead, it was some guy in a weird, brown cloak, with the hood pulled up, who was turned to look at me as I did to him. I was about to question the oddness of someone wearing a cloak in the middle of downtown New York, when suddenly I caught sight of his eyes. They were bright red, like a sea of blood was in his soul. I felt immobilized as a sudden fear washed over me.

OK, if you guys know anything about me, you know I don't get scared often. I'm usually the one that _does_ the scaring. But there was something about this guy that was just... spine chilling. I felt like he was peering into the depths of my soul; like every lie, every secret, every sin I've ever committed was laid out like a book before him. It very nearly drove me to the brink of insanity.

Suddenly his deathly gaze was torn away as the girl who was with him nudged him, and he turned his sights to her. I blinked to clear my mind, and the rest of the flock had stopped with me, feeling my unease. I looked to the girl, who I also didn't notice until just now. She had short brown hair, with bangs that fell over her right eye, sky blue eyes, wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans. She was looking at the guy with some concern, and I wondered why or how she could have such a fearful companion. The pair stared at each other for several agonizing seconds, until the girl jerked her head the other way. She began walking, and the guy followed.

"Max...? Maximum!" Fang's voice brought me back to reality. I shook my head and looked at him. He was looking concerned, but ready to kick some butt if something was amiss. I turned to Matt, who was getting prepared too. I saw the tips of his fingers glinting; he had iron from his body prepared there, ready to multiply and harden at any moment. It's his mutation.  
"Relax guys," I said. "It was nothing." I felt them ease slightly, but they were still slightly suspicious. Yea, we have to be kinda paranoid in order to survive.  
I took another look around, looking for that mysterious pair.  
But they just seemed to... disappear...


	2. Chapter 2

"Aaaaah the view is amazing," Nudge moaned.

"Uh, we're this high all the time," Matt said.

"I know, but we haven't looked at New York from this angle. It looks so... bright, and sparkly."

"I'm glad _you_ like it," Iggy groaned. Gazzy scooted closer to Iggy and began describing the scenery to him.

I leaned onto one of the points of the top of the tower to see around another one. We decided to take a little trip to the good ol' Statue of Liberty, after tour hours of course. The sun was almost fully set, so I don't think anyone would bother looking up to see seven mutant kids on the head of one of our national monuments, and if they did they probably would be thinking they were just some birds.

Birds... haha, see that's funny, right?

Anyway, Fang was to my left, closer into the head than I was, closing his eyes to bask in the breeze. Angel was more in front of me, also enjoying the scenery.

"So where do you think we should settle down for the night?" I asked Fang. He turned his attention to me after his little vacation. "Here, I guess," he said. "I mean, why not? No one will think to look up here for trespassers."

He had a point there... and it sounded good to me. I looked back to New York at dusk.  
How you ever seen how amazing New York looks at nighttime? It's a sight to behold, let me tell you.

But of course nothing good in our life lasts forever.

Iggy stood up straighter, putting a hand up as well, indicating we should listen. I strained to hear anything unusual, but I could never match Iggy's listening powers. It was like he could hear like a spy.

"Oh boy... sounds like buzzing! And lots of it!"

"Where?" Matt asked, getting onto his feet and pulling two iron spikes out of his hands.

"It's... behind us!" He turned sharply, as did we, to the ocean. I groaned. Of course, they had to send a bloody _horde_ of Flyboys to us. If you're still new to this, first there were Erasers, who were like us, but half human, half wolf. They were the ones hunting us down. But someone decided they were obsolete, and killed them all, replacing them with Flyboys, who looked like a fully morphed Eraser, but they were mechanical. They usually sent them in big batches, and this seemed to be one of their records. There were about three hundred, flying towards us, probably ready to either kill or take us hostage.

That's the way everyone seems to look at us lately, huh?

Matt was the first one off the tower, sprinting towards our attackers and flinging himself off the building, then snapping his bat wings out and taking the fight to them. We followed shortly after, even though I'm sure Matt would want to do it alone. He doesn't like us fighting with him, I guess because he wanted to keep us safe. But there's no way he could take three hundred Flyboys out by himself, especially with Lunacy, his berserker alter-ego, dead.

We were almost upon them when, from behind one of the Flyboys, there was a crackly of strange yellow-white electricity. Suddenly, the brown cloaked guy from before materialized out of it, arm raised high with a jagged edged dagger coming out of his cloak. He swung down and cleaved the Flyboy in two.

We all froze, our jaws drop. How the... what the...!? How did he just, appear like that!? That shouldn't be physically possible! People don't just appear and disappear out of nowhere... who _was_ this guy?

"Marìa!" the cloaked guy called out as he began dropping. "They're robots!"

"Oh thank the Lord," cried a girl's voice from behind us. We turned to see a streak of white fly past us. Startled, we followed it to see the same girl from before, but she had bright white _wings,_ and weren't unlike our own. She also had a longsword in hand, raised high. When she was close, she extended her hand. I saw the air distort between her and the Flyboys, and suddenly a handful of them were torn apart, plummeting to the sea below.

I saw the guy dropping, and momentarily contemplated on whether or not I should go after him. But then, he snapped out his _own_ wings! They were a lot like his companion's but they were jet black instead of white. He flipped right-side up and rocketed back towards the Flyboys, two of those jagged blades sticking out of his cloak. He impacted with the mass of Flyboys, who were trying to swamp the girl, and I saw Flyboys dropping like a running faucet.

I looked to Matt, who was obviously just as surprised as I was, as the rest of us were. The self-inflicted scars on his face were contorted in surprise, and a strange eagerness to wanting to join the fight. He caught my gaze, and I shook my head. I didn't know what the hell these guys were, but it would probably be better not to get in their way.

"What? What's going on?" Iggy asked frantically. "I hear Flyboys getting their butts kicked. Why aren't we doing the kicking?" Fang hovered closer to Iggy to explain what was going on, and Iggy whistled in astonishment.

Through the mass of bodies, I saw the guy and girl pass each other, but as they did they clasped hands and turned to face each other.

Then they vanished.

There was an odd silence at the sudden loss of noise. But it didn't last long: Flyboys were being ripped apart by the dozens, from apparently nowhere. Thanks to my raptor vision, I could clearly see some Flyboys being cut neatly, some with gaping holes in their chests, and some that were just blown apart to scrap. But the carnage only lasted so long; the Flyboys never really stood a chance anymore.

Three hundred Flyboys, mercilessly ripped apart by two unknown people in a matter of minutes.

I could scarcely believe it myself.

But it seemed like those people disappeared again...

"Excuse me."

I jumped, turning and ready to kick butt after being denied some serious action. And yes, it is possible to jump when you're already flying. But behind us were the guy and girl, the guy still masked by that cloak, but the girl looked the same as she did the other day.

The girl waved to us, like we were her best friends. "Hello! Are you the Living Angels in this area?"

Are we the whozaWHAT now??

The guy turned his head to his companion. "You didn't bother checking their aura, did you?" The girl blushed, looking away and chuckling nervously. The guy looked back to us, reaching up and pulling the hood back. I gasped.

He had slightly bronzed skin, the same bright red eyes as I'd seen the other day, though thankfully I wasn't losing my sanity this time, and deep gray hair. He was one of the oddest looking people I'd ever seen. OK, I can't exactly say that, since I've seen some pretty disgusting mutants in my time. But I mean.... you know what I mean.

"Go ahead," he said, looking to us but addressing his friend. "Introduce yourself." The girl waved again.

"Marìa Redi," she said cheerily. "Living Angel."

"Evan Divine," the other guy said sternly. "Dark Angel."


	3. Chapter 3

Living Angel? Dark Angel? OK, I had NO idea what that's supposed to mean, but either way these guys sounded like they're full of crap. You guys know me, I'm not religious or spiritual. I believe only what I can see, and these guys didn't seem like all that much to me, except for their fancy tricks.

"You reading her?" the guy, Evan, asked his friend. _An odd question..._

"Yup. She's trouble all right," the girl, Marìa, replied.

"You have no idea," Matt said next to me, trying to stifle a smile behind his hand. They ignored him. "Though it's strange... they all have the auras of humans, but they have wings like us..." He paused, then looked to us, nodding his head back towards Lady Liberty. "Come. Let's set down, we'll explain more about ourselves. Providing you do the same."

"Uhh, I don't think so," Fang growled. "Yea," Gazzy agreed. "We were there first!" Evan looked at Gazzy like he noticed him for the first time.

"Don't worry. We'll leave afterward. You can keep your spot. We just want to talk."

"Like we're telling you squat anyway," Iggy snorted.

"We already know who each one of you are, Iggy," Marìa said. We all looked at each other in surprise. "Have you been watching us?" Nudge asked.

"No, but we can tell your names and what you're like by reading your auras."

Not impressed.

"Oh, so you're mind readers, like Angel?" I asked with a hint of aggression in my voice, trying to prove them wrong. Marìa chuckled. "Kind of. Come on, let's set down. I've been walking around all day and I'm getting tired." Without further word, Marìa and Evan shifted to Lady Liberty and casually glided down towards it. Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to make a move. I could either go with them and see what was up with them, which I REALLY didn't want to do, or I could just fly away and ignore them, which I REALLY wanted to do.

_There are some things you have to believe; some things you cannot see._

Oh JOY! Of course the Voice had to jump in. THAT completed my day, just peachy. I felt like screaming.

_Max, what is there to lose? You outnumber them, if something were to go awry, I'm sure you feel confident enough to beat them._

True... I think the seven of us put together could swamp them.

Ugh. Like I've said, it sucks to be the leader sometimes.

I turned to Matt. "If anything happens..." He nodded, raising an arm and producing a iron spike from his palm. "Without hesitation," he said coldly. I nodded, and, leading the way, we began our descent towards the Statue of Liberty.

We landed in a line, so if the pair decided to do anything funny we could wrap around them and defend ourselves. But so far they didn't seem too hostile. Well... maybe Evan did. But he just seemed to have that kind of presence. He glanced at Marìa.

"You're the talker. You explain."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and the corner of his mouth twitched. But then she looked back to us.

"OK, ahem, so, here's how it goes. We were once human, like you guys. But then we showed our valor in some way, in our case, saving the life of another..." she trailed off, giving Evan a smile. He returned it for a split second, then was impassive again.

"...and afterwhich an Angel of God gave us our powers which we have now. Our job is to protect others from Demons, in case they plot to hurt others. Lately we've been led to you guys. We're not sure why, but we figured if we keep an eye on you guys for a while we may get a clue."

That didn't sound quite convincing enough.

I folded my arms. "You're mutants."

Evan, blinked. "Come again?"

"You're obviously mutants, probably created by the School or Itex or maybe even Methionine. And the only way you can explain it is by calling yourselves angels, and you probably think the Erasers are the so-called demons. I guess you guys think your powers are God-given, but trust me, it was the work of demons."

Evan moved so fast even my raptor vision hardly tracked him. Practically by the time I blinked he moved from where he was, several yards away from me, to right next to me, a palm on my forehead. He held it there for a moment, but before I could finish thinking "Oh crap," he gave me a push, though that was better than what I thought he was gonna do. But the force of the push was so powerful I was thrown off my feet, at least twenty yards backwards, off the statue.

I fell a good ways, until about the waist of the statue, before I realized what the hell just happened. I flipped myself up, spread my wings to air break, and flew back up to the head of the tower. Those jerks! Someone's getting their butt kicked for this...

When I landed back at the tower, I saw everyone in the flock in a defensive stance and circling the pair, save for Matt, who had an iron spike at the tip of Evan's throat. Marìa looked a little worried, but Evan didn't really seem to care; he was glaring back at Matt with as much fury as Matt was giving to him. When I landed, Matt glanced at me. I nodded to him, indicating I was OK. He turned to Evan, a snarl in his face.

"You got a problem with Max, big guy?" our bodyguard growled. Evan's eyes narrowed.

"She called the ones who gave us our gifts demons. Next time it will cost her her life." Matt pressed the spike tip a little closer into Evan's neck. "Why can't you accept the truth? Human scientists created you, not God."

"You know nothing of me, foolish human!" Evan practically bellowed. Matt looked uneasy for a moment, but regained his composure. "I know things that would destroy your mind and shatter your sanity! I've seen Hell and escaped alive! I've killed Demons and saved lives when you were a soup of cells!"

Matt grinned widely, maniacally. "You think you can do better at killing than I can? I'd like to see you try."

"Don't try to play 'Who's the better killer' with me," Evan said evenly. "You could never do the things I've had to do, or make the choices I've had to make."

"Oh yea? Like what?"

The next thing we knew, Evan vanished, leaving behind crackling white and yellow electricity. We all looked around for several moments, and I caught sight of the girl Marìa, her face slightly pale and contorted with barely suppressed rage.

"Matt!"

We whirled as we heard Evan's voice but he was holding... oh God... he was holding Fang by the throat. One of his arms had some kind of black and purple armor on it, and the same kind of jagged dagger-sized blade was sticking out from the top of the forearm, laying across Fang's throat. Fang looked aggressive, not showing any fear. Evan was eying Matt. "Kill Max now, or Fang dies!"

My heart dropped like a lead weight. I looked from Fang to Matt, as Matt did the same to me. Those... that... there's no word to describe him. How could a proclaimed angel threaten innocent people like this!

But then, Evan relaxed and let go of Fang, standing up straighter. "That's the choices you have to make when you're an Angel." He casually walked past Fang, who was too shocked to do anything, and back to Matt. "You're in a conundrum, stuck between risking the life of a comrade or a bystander, or killing another. You have only seconds to make a snap decision, or form a plan of action. I've seen good people, good _Angels,_ die by the hands of Demons created by agents of the Devil himself. I've killed with no regrets. I've had to lead Angels to their doom. You have no right to tell me who I am or who created me!"

"Evan!"

He froze and looked at Marìa, a shocked look on his face. She was glaring at him, her fists curled. _You go, girl!_ I thought.

"You're going too far! Don't rail on these kids when they don't understand!"

There were several agonizing moments of silence, and I was almost one hundred percent sure that either Evan was going to attack Marìa, Marìa was about to attack Evan, or Matt was about to attack Evan. Things could get messy really fast...

Finally, Evan let out a sigh and held his head, approaching Marìa slowly. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. Her features softened, and she nodded in acknowledgment. When Evan reached her side, she looked at all of us, who were spread out around them. "You have to understand," she said softly yet defensively. "Being an Angel of such high responsibility for twenty years takes a lot out of a person."

And I know a lot about responsibility... not that being told I'm going to save the world has a lot of responsibility, no sir.

But wait... did she say twenty years? The guy didn't look a day over 16... like Matt's age. It was probably just another lie, but I made a mental note to look into it later.

Iggy folded his arms. "How do we know what you guys are saying is the truth? What proof do you have?"

Marìa and Evan exchanged glances. Evan nodded at her, and she looked to Iggy with a smile on her face.

"We're going to show you what we call 'the Dusk.'"


	4. Chapter 4

"What makes you think we'll go anywhere with you?" I asked coldly. _Especially since they almost killed Fang._ I looked at him, and he seemed fine. Not that he wasn't moments ago, but it doesn't hurt to check, right?

"You don't have to go anywhere," Marìa said in a reassuring tone. Not that that did anything to reassure us, but whatever. "All you have to do is hold hands. We'll take care of the rest."

I looked at Angel. Her expression was the same as before. She hadn't told me these people were lying yet, but she hadn't told me they were telling the truth either.

_What are you picking up, sweetie?_ I sent to her. Her gaze shot to me, all blue eyed and innocent.

_Nothing bad,_ she replied. _I mean, the guy does seem a little off, in his mind I mean, but other than that they seem to be telling the truth. I don't think they're trying to stop me from reading their thoughts either._

I sighed. I kinda preferred she just tell me they were lying scumbags, well, _more_ lying scumbags in a long list of lying scumbags we've met throughout our short, miserable lives, so we could kick their butts and get the h outta here. But now I actually have to _decide_ on something.

_What have you got to lose?_

_  
Will you BUTT OUT!_ I screamed at the Voice. As if I didn't have enough to worry about right now.

I glanced at Fang, who was already looking at me. He shrugged. He doesn't even seem to _care_ Evan put a knife to his throat a minute ago.

Finally, I sighed.

"Alright guys, hold hands." I gave Evan a nasty look. "Let's see what they're all about," I finished.

One by one, the flock formed up in a line, holding hands all the way down. I was at one end, with Matt on the other. Fang was next to me, so that was reassuring. _I guess this is __**their**__ test,_ I thought to myself.

I didn't even notice it, but Evan had approached me and was standing in front of me. He put both hands on my shoulders. Reflex kicked in, and without even thinking, I punched him across the cheek for touching me. I actually didn't even regret doing it.

But the problem was, Evan hardly moved.

His face turned slightly by the impact, my fist still on his cheek, but he gave no sign of pain. He was still looking at me in the eyes. I felt the flock tense up, as though they thought I had just aggravated a sleeping beast. After several gut-turning moments, his eyes drifted to his partner, who was next to him.

"Marìa, why did this girl just punch me in the face?"

She gave a tight smile. "I guess she doesn't quite trust you."

"For the record, I don't trust _either_ of you," I said.

"How about I do the jump?" Marìa asked Evan, ignoring me again. I was getting quite tired of that.

Evan nodded, and only then did my fist drop from his face. "Alright. Your Light powers have increased a lot over the years. I think you can take six kids into the Dusk on your own." The girl looked slightly embarrassed.

I think that was the longest statement Evan's said yet.

Evan backed up a few paces, and Marìa took his place. She gave me a warm smile, which actually seemed to work. Just a little.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt. But it may feel a little weird." She cautiously put both hands on my shoulders and slowly closed her eyes. It must've been my imagination, but before she closed them I could've sworn I saw some kind of white light coming out of them.

Suddenly, all color around me blurred and distorted, like I was doing one of my supersonic flight speeds. But it only lasted for a split second. Because then everything returned to normal, and Marìa opened her eyes.

Well... actually far from normal.

The seven of us let go of each others' hands and looked around. Everything seemed darker; I mean darker than normal. Looking across to the city, and even the water, things had an orange sheen to them, and I saw several long, red rifts across the ground. Thanks to my raptor vision, I could see the people of New York... and they were moving _slow._ Like, it seemed to take three seconds for someone to take one step. Looking up, the regular orange dusk was now a gray-ish color, with several black stars sprinkling the sky, and a couple blue rifts, like their red cousins on the ground, split the sky. The rising moon was pitch black, and the setting sun was white, but wasn't painful to look into.

"Everything feels all tingly" Iggy said shakily. "What's going on?" The Gasman shook his head slowly. "I don't know where to start..." he gasped.

The flock around me were just as shocked as Gazzy and Iggy were. Was this like a parallel universe or something? I soon found my answer as I realized the last part about this place. There were several green and blue gasses, kind of condensed, and lingering around.

One of them was right in front of us.

And it was a person.

"Welcome to the Dusk," Evan said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "The realm of the dead."

I had to cover my mouth to stifle a shriek. Nudge almost screamed, but Fang covered her mouth. Everyone else, save for Iggy of course, was just staring at the phantom in front of us. It was translucent, and looked horribly decayed. But he had an old colonial style uniform on and a musket slung around his shoulder, along with other assortments of kits.

"Ello laddies," the ghost said. A chill ran down my spine. I almost didn't expect it to talk. "I presume that thou canst see me," it said with an ugly grin. "I hath been haunting these here Americans for more than two hundred years. The Militia killed me, aye, and cast my remains into this ocean. My brothers hath been gone for quite some time, but I remain. Haunting ye and ye Americans hath been pleasurable revenge for my death."

"There is life after death," Evan said behind me, but addressing the ghost. I kept an eye on him to make sure he wouldn't try anything funny while he was facing my back. "But your revenge is binding you to this world," Evan continued. "Forgive, and you will rest in peace."

The ghost cocked his head slightly. "Forgive? There can be no forgiveness. All there is is an eternity of torture and cruel shame of my death." The phantom shook his head slowly. "Thou Angels art no sport to me. Thou knowst of ghosts and art not afraid. I shall have to find more entertaining members to scare. Good day." With that, it began walking forwards towards us, and with each step went deeper into the statue until it was gone.

"Believe us now?" Marìa asked. I turned to her, my face composed, though inside I wasn't. "It could be an illusion," I said more calmly than I really was.

"Nice brave face," Evan muttered, the corners of his mouth twitching. I shot him another barrage of dagger stares. This, of course, made him smile more. But it was only for a few seconds; then his face returned to his impassive look. "Let's get you kids out of here," he said. "It's dangerous for you to stay here too long."

They didn't have to tell _me_ twice. The seven of us held hands more quickly this time, and half a minute later we were back to the good ol' real world.

"So," Marìa said once we returned. "We'd like to watch over you guys for a few days, to find out why we were sent here."

_Like a scientist would watch a rat, maybe?_

"Think of it more as natural observation," Evan said to me. The little bugger must've read my mind... and I thought Angel was bad about that.

"We'll be in a hotel in the area," Marìa said. "If you want to find us, or just want a nice place to stay for the night, come looking. You'll find us." With that, the two of them took off, flying towards the city with the approaching night behind them.

Yea, as if we were gonna follow them. We've never stayed in a place with unfamiliar people before, and we definitely weren't about to start now. "Angels" or not.

* * *

Lenard's eyes drooped for a moment, but he quickly opened them again, standing more erect and keeping his rifle across his chest more stiffly. He was guarding the entrance to a top-secret facility outside of New York city, and he wasn't about to slack off in his duties. Not that he knew what the hell was going _on_ in there, but it wasn't his place to know. He was a guard, nothing more.

"Hey Lenard," Paul, his guarding partner, said across the gate they were in front of. Paul was peering into the pitch black gloom. "Do you see that over there?"

Lenard peered forward, but saw nothing but darkness. "You must be seeing things," Lenard said to his friend. "Have you had alcohol before your duty again?" Paul shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm serious. There's something coming this way. It looks like a person... I think. But I don't like it." Paul leveled his gun against his shoulder and pointed into the distance. Lenard, still unsure, did the same.

_Wait a moment..._ he thought. There _was_ something coming their way. It looked like a person... but...

And that was when Lenard saw the bright red eyes that pierced the gloom of the night.

Unimaginable terror filled Lenard, his body automatically kicking in his fight or flight response.

"Shoot it!" Lenard cried. Without fault, Lenard and Paul unloaded their weapons onto the approaching figure, sending the sound of deafening gunfire across the valley. But to his horror, the creature kept on coming, its shoulders merely rolling with the impacts of a hundred bullets.

"Fools!" the creature roared over the gunfire, sending a frightening chill up Lenard's spine. "Mortal weapons cannot kill me!" It broke into a run, and Lenard saw the horror that was the creature.

All he could do was scream.


	5. Chapter 5

Right. Left. Above. Behind. Nope, no sign of Evan the disappearing man. The seven us were strolling the streets of New York again and, despite Angel showing me into shops, Gazzy pointing out people who looked freakier than we were, or Fang occasionally asking me if I was alright, my thoughts always drifted to what had transpired the night before. Believe it or not, I still didn't like the idea of these self-proclaimed angels. I know, I know, they showed us some crazy stuff. But who's to say they still aren't just a band of mutants like we are? They could very well just be hiding from their identity, which is something even we didn't sink to.

Angel skipped ahead and turned to one of the glass windows of the shop we were approaching. When the rest of us caught up to her, we saw at least ten TVs stacked together, all playing the same news channel. When we approached her, Angel looked back to us. Seeing my weird look, she said "I like to keep up on current events." I shook my head, laughing slightly. "You're a scary child, you know that?" She flashed me one of her angelic smiles, making my heart skip a beat.

"Such petty affairs..."

Surprised, I whirled and uppercutted the one talking, simply out of paranoia and reflex. It turned out to be... oh... a hooded Evan. Big surprise. But oddly, just like last time, he had hardly moved. His head was raised slightly because of the force of the impact, but other than that he didn't move. Next to him, Marìa had a slightly pained look on her face.

I still would like to know how he does that. I mean, I'm stronger than your average girl, and smarter than your average bear. That uppercut would be able to knock a normal human out like a light. An Eraser would be able to take it, but it'd still hurt him a lot. Evan just looked like it didn't even phase him.

"Why do you feel the need to punch me every time we meet?" Evan said matter-of-factly.

"It's a habit," I retorted. I lowered my fist and Evan pulled back his hood, the same one he had yesterday with the cloak, rolled his neck, and I heard a loud _crack_ from his spine. Gross.

"Want me to escort them out?" Matt growled behind me. I shook my head, not even facing him. "Nah, I'll deal with this." I took a step towards them to meet the pair head on.

"What do you have against us?" Marìa asked, genuinely confused. "Um gee, where do I start?" I said, exaggerating a thinking pose.

"We're here for your protection," Evan said levelly. "What's the problem of letting us walk with you?"

"Because we don't _know_ you!" I practically yelled. "And what's the problem of you guys hitting the road? For all we know you could lead us into a trap, or leading Erasers to us, or capture us or cut our throats while we sleep! So why don't _you two_ get the hell out of our lives!"

Evan's eyes hardened, but his face remained impassive. Marìa looked kinda sad, like what I said had stung her. Evan opened his mouth to come back, but the words "Mysterious causes of death" caught his attention, and he quickly looked to the TVs in the shop. I did too, as did the rest of the flock, to see what that was all about. We saw a blond woman with a mike and business uniform, standing in what looked like a desolate part of the country, looking like she had spent three hours getting ready for a thirty second report. Behind her was a facility that looked like a bunker with a chain-link fence around it, but it was off in the distance.

"Yes," the woman said in a very reporter-like tone. "Last night several guards here in this government outpost were attacked and murdered. Detectives found bullet casings, all of which were identified as being from the victims. We suspect that some unknown agents have infiltrated the facility and are assumed to have stolen something. More has not yet been released, but we'll keep you posted."

Evan and Marìa looked at each other. "What do you think?" Evan asked. Marìa's face grew stern. "Sounds like Demonic plots to me."

"Uhh, don't you mean mutant plots?" I corrected. Evan looked to me, seeming somewhat bored and annoyed. "Did the reporter say anything about any other bodies? No, they were all of guards. There were bullets fired, all from guards, but no other bodies. Can you mutants survive that many bullets?"

"Can you 'Angels'?"

"Yes. Mortal weapons cannot kill us. Only a Demon can kill an Angel, and only an Angel can kill a Demon. It keeps the balance of power, but also gives Demons a feeling superiority."

_Maybe we should put that to the test,_ I thought, amused.

"There are exceptions, however," Marìa added. "If a mortal weapon is cursed by a Demon, or blessed by an Angel, that weapon can kill celestial beings. As was the case with an old friend of ours, Isaac."

Evan nodded and half turned his back to us. "Come," he said. "Let us investigate that place. It may further convince you of our existence."

"I don't think so," I snarled.

"Max, what's to lose?"

I whirled, surprised by Matt's sudden approval of these guys. Since when did _he_ believe what they were saying?

"You know we can escape if we have to. We always do. Let's just check it out. If we don't like it we'll leave."

My jaw tightened. I didn't like having to be led to places I wasn't familiar with, because of the potency of a trap. But Matt got a stubborn look on his face, so I sighed, caving. Just because he was our bodyguard, and I knew he wouldn't let us get hurt.

"Fine," I groaned. "We'll check it out." Evan nodded, then unfurled his black wings and took off, _right in the middle of frickin New York!_ But strangely, no one was looking up screaming at him. Everyone was just going through their normal business.

Marìa chuckled. "Don't worry guys," she said. "We have a spell of distraction over all of us. To everyone in New York, we're just empty space for all they care." She waved us on. "Go ahead, I'll lead behind." The flock exchanged glances, but after Matt took off and no one noticed, we felt comfortable enough to jump up after him. I kid you not, it was a weird feeling to take off in the middle of downtown New York.

The flight was only about fifteen minutes with the only talking was a bit of chatter in the flock. Soon we were over an empty space of land with the only landmark being a closed-off government facility in the middle of scenic nowhere. Well, now it wasn't _completely_ deserted, because there were official looking people prowling around the outside, and probably more within, looking for some kind of evidence.

Evan led us over the gates and we landed, the people in dark shades and suits not noticing us. Probably because of Evan's little "spell." He was probably just using some kind of mutation to make us invisible, but whatever. After we landed, Evan led us around the grounds, apparently looking for something himself. Or maybe someone... my stomach tightened at the thought of being led into a trap. I was already avoiding all the government officials we passed, for paranoia that they'd suddenly turn into an Eraser or try to shoot us or something.

Finally, at the back of the compound, Evan came to a stop in front of a woman detective. She was punching something into her PDA, but when then, feeling eyes upon her, she looked up. Her eyes grew stern, because she realized it wasn't a fellow agent. She opened her mouth to say something probably along the lines of "this is a restricted area," but she stopped, and looked at Evan and Marìa with a slightly puzzled look. She started scanning them up and down, as I did to her.

The woman didn't look that old, probably her early twenties. She had short red hair, tall legs, and green eyes. She was a few inches shorter than me (because, you know, how tall we are). She looked like one of those "no nonsense" kinda people, especially in her black suit top and black skirt that went down to her knees.

She gave Evan a strange look, still looking fierce. "Announce yourselves," she said.  
"Marìa Redi. Living Angel."

"Evan Divine. Dark Angel."

Her eyes narrowed more at him. "That's what I thought you are," she half-growled. I resisted the urge to chuckle. Finally, maybe someone who didn't quite like Evan as much as we did. Or... maybe as much as I did.

Wait, how the hell does she know what he was talking about!?

"And you?" Marìa asked, sensing tension.

"Leila Jamierson," she replied. "Living Angel."

Oh Lord, not another nut job...

"What business do you have here, Dark Angel?" she hissed.

"We suspect Demonic activity," Evan responded. "We're here to investigate."

"Well you can leave. I have this handled."

Evan's eyes grew hard. "I have jurisdiction to be here," he said, waving to us. Whatever we had to do with his jurisdiction I had no idea. The woman, Leila, slowly looked among us, scanning us up and down. When her eyes rest on Matt, who was last, her body tensed up, and she glared intensely at him. Matt, knowing she was being put on edge, gave her a sarcastic smile. "Find something you like?" he mused. Leila scowled deeper, showing some of her teeth.

"You have the remnants of Demons upon you."

Evan shot Leila an angry look, and Marìa looked like something bad had just been spilt. Matt looked at Leila confused, just as did the rest of us. The seven of us were just bystanders at this point, kinda enjoying the show. Well... "enjoying" may be an overstatement.

"What we are here for is none of your business," Evan growled. "We have the right to be here under our own reasons. You're overstepping your position, Angel." Leila snorted, like it was a joke. "What right do you have to tell me such things, you who have a Demon within you."

Evan's eyes hardened impossibly more. "I'm only _half_ Demon."

A demon!? Maybe I missed something, but didn't he say something about him being an angel? Maybe?

"And half of my enemy," Leila retorted. "Is still my enemy." With that, Leila turned on her heel, her back to us. "Just stay out of my way. I don't have any business with any of you." She walked offward, probably meeting with her other agents to discuss.... probably agent business.

"So... what the heck was _that_ all about?" Iggy said matter-of-factly.

"And what did she say about me having 'remnants of demons'?" Matt asked. Evan sighed, looking to Marìa. She sighed too, and shrugged. "We'll explain later. After we get out of this place. Some Angels are just a little overzealous..."

Fang folded his arms. "Tell us what is up with Matt," he said in his scary voice.

"I am not totally sure," Evan said. "But we'll explain what we can in a little bit." He closed his eyes, letting out a breath, and I felt the air around me tingle. After that, Evan took off into the air. Marìa followed, Matt following her, and the rest of us following him.

Something was smelling fishy... and we were too far from the ocean to smell any real fish.


	6. Chapter 6

Grateful for leaving that cursed government facility, the flock and the two "angels" landed about two hundred yards away. I guess it was just for us to get out of earshot of them, but oh well. I'm just kinda going with the motions. Unless things go wrong. If things go wrong, that's when we kick serious butt.

"So," Fang said at last. "Spill." Evan's jaw tightened for a moment before he replied.

"What that Angel was talking about... she sensed it too." He looked to Matt. "You have been in contact with Demons at some point in your life. I don't know where, I don't know when, and I don't know how. But you have. That is why we are so interested in you and your flock."

The seven of us looked to each other. OK, as if we didn't believe these guys already. Now they were accusing _one of us_ of being with a demon?

Geez these guys had issues.

"So if you could retrace your steps," Marìa added. "Like, show us important places in your life, we may find another clue as to where that Demon is."

Silence.

Then Iggy chimed in. "So does that mean we get to leave New York?"

We all shot him a look. A look that, unfortunately, he couldn't see.

"Do you guys, like, hunt demons?" Gazzy asked, clearly interested, as though his new dream was to be a demon-hunter one day.

"No," Marìa responded. "We simply find and bring unlawful Demons to justice. The Demon we're looking for intruded on Matt's life in some profound way, but didn't convert him to a Demon. And since he interfered in an unlawful way, he must be found and punished."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. Maybe, even though we didn't believe or trust these guys, we could still have use for them. I mean, like, if they're looking hard enough for this "demon," they would pretty much turn every place they're looking for upside down, right?

So maybe we should get them looking in a place where we need to get turned over. A place that would convince them to go, and would get rid of a thorn in our sides.

"What about Methionine?" Eight pairs of eyes stared at me, boring into my skull.

"Methonine?" Evan repeated. "That is an amino acid found in cells. It is the starting amino acid for the building of proteins--"

"No no no. _Methoinine Co._ That's the company that _created_ Matt. Maybe they have your 'demon'?"

Evan and Marìa exchanged glances. While they were, I looked over the flock. Angel was tapping her toes on the ground innocently. Gazzy was looking up at Iggy, who was smiling with the eagerness of leaving a place he didn't like. Nudge was fiddling with her curly hair, looking slightly anxious. Fang was stiff-backed, fierce look on his face, ready to face any dangers with me. Matt was looking at me with a weary, tight-mouthed look. He didn't want to go, I knew. They had captured him and tortured him before, back when we thought he was dead. But I knew we had to do it... figuring out what Methionine had up its sleeves was probably an important step in saving the world.

And if we got to kick a few butts while we were at it, all the better.

"Alright!" Marìa clapped, getting the flock's attention. "Next stop, Methionine Headquarters! Where is it, Max?"

"In... Texas..."

Everyone groaned as one. This was gonna be a long flight.

* * *

Well, we managed to go a few days without anything or anyone getting beaten up, knocked out, or blown up. It was like we had disappeared off of the baddies' radars.

What a nice change.

Evan and Marìa disappeared every day, during out flights. But at night they always returned to our camps, always managing to find us somehow, and helped us with our watches. Not that we left them to do their own separate watch times. Nope, they just stayed up with whoever was at watch from time to time.

Right now was one of those times. It was early morning: my watch. Everyone was asleep, including Evan. But Marìa was sitting next to me in a thick tree branch overhead, looking out for anything suspicious. Evan and Marìa hadn't done anything out of the ordinary yet, so I decided letting them sleep around us wasn't so bad. It was pretty funny listening to Marìa rant though, while I basically zoned out, occasionally giving "uh huhs" or "mhms" along the way.

But then the words "you and Fang" caught my attention, and my head snapped towards her.

"Wait, say again?" I asked.

"I said, so is there something going on between you and Fang?"

I think my face turned a little red. "Uh... what do you mean?" I knew exactly what she meant.

"Like, are you and him together? Your auras seem to say so."  
Honestly, I wasn't sure anymore. I mean, Fang and I basically admitted we had feelings for each other, after the episode where Matt was "dead." But then he wasn't and... Matt had feelings for me. I knew he did. But he kept them to himself, which I felt bad for him over. And ever since he came back, Fang and I have become more... distant. He hadn't been as boyfriend-y to me after Matt recovered. Maybe he knew too...?

"Um... I'm not sure..." Quickly deciding to turn the topic around, I said, "Are you and Evan?"

"Of course. Twenty years, baby," she giggled slightly.

I sighed impatiently. They really need to stop lying about their age.

But then Marìa's face grew more... worried.

"But... something's been with Evan lately..."

Uh oh, this was news. Probably bad news.

"What is it?" I asked. Not so much from a sincere standpoint, but more of an undercover-getting-information standpoint.

"Well..." she hesitated, her gaze shifting to Evan on the ground. He was stock still, lying perfectly straight on the ground, wings unfurled slightly. "He hasn't been himself lately..."

I didn't say anything, waiting for her to go on.

"I mean... you've seen it. But you probably think that's the way he always is. You know... impulsive... angry... defensive... that isn't the Evan I fell in love with. He's changed... and I don't know why he's changed. He used to be so sweet, so sincere... I'm not sure what's gotten into him. But I'm determined to find out." Her gaze turned stone-hard.

I couldn't help but warm my heart to her a little. She was so strong and determined... kinda like me. When she set her mind on something, she'd fight for it tooth and nail to the end. And it was to protect another... that's at least one noble cause I could relate to.

Marìa looked back to me and smiled warmly. "But I'm sure by the end of it all you'll see the goodness in Evan. He's a great guy. Just give him... and me... a chance. We'll show you what we're made of." She stood up, balanced on the branch, a fierce look on her face. "And most of all, we'll protect you from whatever we have to face. That's our job."

Despite still not trusting them fully, her little speech gave me a smile. Maybe there were more to these guys than we had thought...


	7. Chapter 7

Several days of long, tireless, but oddly non-hostile flights later, we had arrived: Methionine Co. Headquarters, just outside of Dallas, Texas.

Just like before...

I took another weary glance at Matt, who, just like the rest of us, was hiding behind some trees and bushes outside the barbed wire fence. His jaw was tight, and his gaze was fixed on the building. I couldn't blame him for being uptight. We went here before, and we were captured. The original six of us had escaped but... Matt wasn't as fortunate. I don't know what they did, but when we found him again he looked like he was in a lot of pain, and the scientists somehow managed to give Lunacy control over him. Of course I had to kill Lunacy... and almost killed Matt in the process.

I guess that's not something Matt wanted to relive again, huh?

After a quick recon, we saw there were still no guards on the towers of the probably-former prison. So, hoping there weren't any cameras, we flew over the gates and at the large, metal front doors. Looks like they got that fixed again...

Hope they wouldn't mind if Matt busted it down again.

I turned to look at him... when suddenly one of my shoulders was grabbed from behind.

"Please don't punch me," a gruff voice said behind me. I knew it was Evan, so all I could do was huff. But before I could even finish that, I heard Marìa, somewhere off to my left, yell "Hang on!" Then Evan began pushing me forward, and out of reflex I reached out, managing to grab on to Matt's and Fang's hands.

The only problem was, we were going straight forward.

Right towards the large, hard, metal doors.

I yelled out for them to stop, but then everything turned a darker shade, and I became slightly disoriented. Before I could recover, we ran into the wall.

But we didn't stop...

We went straight through the wall, and onto the other side. Everything inside looked more... orange, than I remember. But then in a flash, everything returned to normal, and Evan let go of my shoulder. I looked around. All of us made it through, with the flock looking around confused.

OK, let me recap: We just charged at a large, hard, metal door, and went through without so much as a nudge back. What the?

"That's the power of the Dusk," Evan said behind me. I snorted, looking over my shoulder.

"Just another mutation," I said back, acting bored. His jaw got tight, and his eyes hardened. I knew that set him off. Score 1 for me.

Evan looked over to Matt, his face returning monotone. "You know your way around this place, don't you? Lead on." Matt nodded back, then walked ahead, the rest of us falling in behind.

How Matt did this creeps me out sometimes. Just like last time, he was leading us through the twists and turns, hallways, and corridors of the large facility, seeming to know exactly where he was headed. But then we reached a part of a hall I remembered well: the one that lead to the double doors saying "Research Lab," and the intersection between it. That was where we were ambushed last time. The flock stopped, and the "angels," sensing our unease, stopped as well. Finally, Matt crept forward to the intersection. He peeked his head out to one side, then the other. After a few agonizing seconds, he turned his head over his shoulder and waved us on.

All clear.

I guess because their front door was still on, the scientists weren't aware of us yet.  
I let out the breath I had been holding and followed Matt onward, and the rest followed me. When Matt got to the Research Lab doors, he kicked it, but with no avail. It must've been locked.

Evan gently pushed his way past us and stood next to Matt, looking at him and giving him a nod. Matt returned the gesture, and they both got in a stance, bringing one foot back. Together they launched a devastating kick that blew the doors back, practically off their hinges.

It was done. We had made it in without detection.

But the sight of the Research Lab... I'll never forget the gut-wrenching terror I saw...

Experiments were everywhere. And by experiments I mean horribly mutated, mutilated, butchered, and incomplete men, women, and children that littered both the large, green incubation-like tubes on the walls and strapped onto slabs. One woman on a wall-tube looked like she had her arm and leg cut off, but new ones were regenerating. One child had a swollen cranium that looked like was trying to support an over-sized brain. Some guy in one of the tubes had a head of some insect, like an ant or something. Some were just mistakes... tentacles instead of arms... scales and other aquatic features... several bug-eyes... it made me thankful Matt didn't look like any of them.

But the flock was clearly scarred.

Angel had tears brimming in her eyes. Nudge was visibly shaking, her eyes the size of dinner plates. Gazzy was shaking as well and clinging onto Iggy. Iggy was probably glad he was blind for the first time in his life, sensing our fear. Fang's eyes widened slightly, meaning he was shocked beyond words, and looking around slowly. All I could do was hold Angel's and Nudge's shoulders. Matt had sunk to his knees, looking around in absolute terror.

Marìa, on the other hand, looked only mildly disgusted. And Evan just looked even more mad.

Then a sadistic laughter rang out from everywhere, and nowhere.

"Your anguish," that somehow-familiar voice chimed. "Is my wine." The voice inhaled deeply, then let out a pleasurable sigh. "Simply..._intoxicating..._"

Evan looked around, a scowl on his face. "I know you're here," he called out. "Show yourself!" And just like that the purple florescent lights that illuminated the lab went off, normal bright lights flooding the room, and a new person standing in the middle of the room with a maniacal smile on his face.

I recognized him immediately. It was Dr. Yanes, the company President.

The man was of clearly Latin descent, with slicked back, black hair, and a tuxedo on, like he was on his way to a business meeting. But I guess we were higher priorities for him. He had his hands behind his back, looking at us with interest. At some unknown cue, the tubes of mutated people turned themselves around and blended into the wall. The slabs did the same. Suddenly, the room was wide and white.

Marìa scowled deeply at him. "Are you the ones killing all of those people," she growled. "Like the ones in New York?"

"No," Yanes admitted. "Though I've heard of it, and it sounds quite fun." Matt, out of his daze, got to his feet quickly. Yanes noticed him like he saw him for the first time. "Aaaah... Project E-01. We meet again. Though I'm surprised you are still alive."

"Yea," Matt responded, feeling himself again. "I have a tendency to do that to people."

I widened my feet into a fighting stance, ready to kick some tail. But something about Yanes was... different. I was getting a strange, creepy feeling about him. Like if I approached him, it would mean certain death. Or worse.

Behind me I heard a weird bubbling-like sound. Glancing behind my shoulder, I gasped. Underneath Evan's cloak, he had now some kind of purple and black armor, with a red visor on his helmet, underneath his hood. He unsheathed those jagged edged daggers from the top of his armor's forearms. His black wings were extended fully, to give him a more intimidating look.

_Sheesh!_ How many mutations did this guy _have!?_

"Edwardo Yanes," Evan said in a scary voice. "Non-living Demon. For the illegal abduction and experimentation of innocent humans; in the name of God, you are under arrest."

Yanes lowered his head and chuckled. Then he threw his head back and laughed a loud, hysterical laugh. He looked back to Evan with a wide-eyed, foul look to his face. "God has no power here!" he proclaimed. "This is _my_ domain!" He growled a low, deep growl, and began to _change._ His skin grew black, his muscles bulgier, and his suit vaporized off of his flesh. Claws grew out from his fingers, his feet grew more dog-like, and he grew horns that jutted out and upwards from his forehead. His eyes grew bright green with snake-like pupils, and large fangs grew from his teeth. All and all, he looked quite terrifying. Even for me.

But this... this wasn't just a mutation, like Erasers. This was something much more vile... and... unearthly. There was only one word I could use to describe Yanes at that moment:

Demon.

When Yanes' transformation was complete, another loud crack resonated. Yanes threw his head back and let out a loud, almost pleasurable sounding moan. He then returned his gazes to Evan and Marìa, smiling wickedly.

I felt Marìa's hands on my chest, a longsword now in her other hand, pushing me back towards the wall. "Stand back," she warned us. As if I could move to do otherwise...

The rest of the flock was stockstill, looking at the nightmare ahead of us. This was... more terrifying than any Eraser we had ever faced. This was a true Hellspawn. To face that would mean facing an agent of Hell itself...

And all of a sudden everything clicked for me.

If there were demons, there had to be angels...

Evan and Marìa... they _were_ angels. Real, honest-to-God angels.

Both of them, wings extended and weapons drawn, slowly approached the demon Yanes.

"You..." Evan growled. "Are you an Incubus?" Yanes smiled impossibly wider, hands behind his back again, and nodded. Probably sensing the flock's curiosity, he looked back to us, ignoring the angels in front of him.

"Allow me to explain," he said to us. "I am a special type of Demon, like Vampires, called an Incubus. I _love_ to watch others in pain, for it gives me a pleasure of my own kind. No pain is unknown to me." His gaze fell on Matt. "You, Project E-01, can testify to that. You were my greatest success. You were so tolerant to my experiments, you provided me with good sport for quite the time being. My other playthings break so... easily. But you were different, and not just in one way..."

"Enough!" Evan snapped. "No more talking. It is time for you to die, Demon!" Yanes chuckled again, his high, sadistic laugh ringing off the walls. "Of course." He extended his right arm outwards. "Seduction," he purred. With a series of sick, crackling noises, his fingers elongated and twisted on themselves until they were at least three feet, and fell to the floor still attached to his arm. Short, stubby spikes jutted outwards, like spines covering a thorn bush. He raised it up and cracked it like a whip.

"Here we go," he whispered. He let out a loud giggle-like laugh, and rushed Evan with blinding speed.


	8. Chapter 8

The Demon lunged at Evan with blinding speed, but thankfully he was able to raise his weapons across his face to protect his face from the lash-like weapon. Seeing an opening, Marìa charged him from behind as Yanes's weapon began winding itself around Evan's, binding them together. Without looking behind him, Yanes kicked backwards, hitting Marìa square in the chest and knocking her to the other side of the room. She slumped to the ground as she hit the wall, coughing for breath. As Evan tried to tug his weapons away from his opponent's weapon's grasp, the tip finally came up and whacked Evan across the neck. Evan let out a blood curdling roar in pain, despite the armor he was wearing. I saw his muscles spasming involuntarily, and to my horror, Yanes's eyes were dazed in excitement.

The Demon purred in Even's face. "The sweet sound of suffering..."

Suddenly, my skin crawled, as though a sudden wave of hope washed over me. I turned behind me, from which the feeling was resonating, and saw a new person behind the flock and I. It was that girl from the other day, Leila. She was no longer in her detective uniform, but was wearing a plain white shirt and jeans.

Wardrobe change much?

With her white wings extended, and without skipping a beat, she slashed the exotic dagger she had in her hand, and to my shock, a ball of fire spat out of it, straight at Yanes. It splashed against the right side of his face, causing him to scream, release Evan and his weapons, and fall to the ground, clutching his face. Evan had fallen to his knees, trying to regain his sense of self after such a painful attack.

Despite the situation, I allowed myself to smile. Yanes looked like he was down for the count. He was still screaming and rolling around on the ground, half of his face consumed by fire. It looked like the Angels were going to win.

But my shock turned to horror and disgust in a heartbeat. Leila realized it too, and her face tightened in abhorrence.

Yanes wasn't screaming in pain. He was screaming in erotic pleasure.

The fire suddenly extinguishing from his face, Yanes used Leila's distraction to whip his fleshy weapon out toward her, the weapon itself elongating itself to reach her. It hit her across the neck as well, and while it only caused a red mark, she cried out in agony and fell to her hands and knees, shaking and looking as though she might vomit.

Yanes got to his feet as though nothing had happened and smiled, half of his face scorched and blistering. "Thank you," he said to Leila, who was still immobile. "That was exceptional."

He quickly looked to where Marìa was as a wave of distorted air rushed towards him. It suddenly disappeared upon contacting him, and Yanes responded by lashing his whip at Marìa. But she was quicker, and ducked under it, sprinting around the room, lashing waves of distorted air at Yanes. His face tightened under each attack, his own weapon trying in vain to hit her. Finally, Yanes hit a pipe above Marìa, sending white hot steam into her. She gasp and fanned her hands trying to see, but too late before Yanes's weapon grabbed a hold of her arm, tightening like a boa constrictor. Her breathing turned ragged and she was trying to muffle her cries of pain, the spikes on the whip probably digging into her arm, as well as whatever other ethereal methods he used to cause such extreme pain. Evan was trying to force himself to his feet, but it was a slow and painful process.

"You shall not disrupt my work!" Yanes cried suddenly, his eyes boring into the agonized Marìa. "I will use my subjects how I see fit! It is my sport, and my passion!"

I desperately wanted to rush in and kick this jerk's butt. But I remembered what Evan had told me a long time ago: _Only an Angel can kill a Demon, and only a Demon can kill an Angel._ I knew if I ran in, I'd either get myself killed or, just get in the way.

Matt, however, had no such recollection.

I don't know if he had just decided that "enough is enough," or if what Yanes said sent horrible flashbacks into his mind. But either way, Matt rushed toward the Demon, a feral cry of anger and pain on his lips, and an iron spike drawn from his palm. As the Demon turned to face him, Matt pounced on him, driving him to the ground, and driving the spike through the bottom of his jaw up into his head.

After several gut-turning moments, Yanes's weapon went slack, and started burning away into pink fire. Yanes, to my surprise, laughed, his voice choked with blood. "Your cries," he whispered, pausing to find his voice again. "Were music."

Matt's face filled with such anger and hate that it chilled me to the very core of my being. With another angered shout, he plunged the blade deeper into his head, probably finally penetrating his brain. Yanes's body spasmed, his eyes filled with what his body finally registered as pain. But then, he went slack, and his body began burning away into pink fire that didn't harm Matt at all.

Evan and Leila, who had pushed themselves to their feet, were staring at the silent Matt as he slowly rose, pulling his spike back into his body deliberately. Marìa was clutching into the wall, trying not to fall over. Slowly, Matt turned toward Evan.

"You... what am I?" he said sternly. Evan didn't say anything; he was still panting, one hand resting over his neck where the whip had hit. Also, probably realizing there was no more need to fight, he retracted his armor, which turned liquid and pooled into his body. "You told us that only an Angel can kill a Demon, and yet I just killed that Demon there. You aren't telling us everything, are you?"

"Maybe because he isn't fully sworn to us," Leila responded, seeming to have regained her composure, but each word was tight and strained.

"What makes you say that?" I replied. "I mean, he fought that Demon..."

"But you cannot trust the Dark Angel. He does not fully serve either side."

"You..." Evan gasped. "Don't... know me...!"

"I know enough," Leila responded. "I've been looking into the murders that have been spreading. It turns out they lead in a path, and that path leads to wherever you go, Dark Angel. You are responsible for them, aren't you!?"

I almost shot back a comeback, when suddenly I froze. In my head I spat a whole bunch of curse words that I won't repeat. It suddenly came to me. Each night, Evan would mysteriously wake up from his sleep, proclaiming he would be out for a while, and then just take off. Now that I think about it, his voice was always very monotone...

Evan's eyes suddenly went wide, and he looked completely out of it. He looked genuinely confused as well. "I..." he began. Then just as quickly as his confusion game, it left, replaced only by pure rage. With a grunt of protest, he quickly ran past Leila, in the direction toward the outside. It wasn't long before Matt ran after him.


	9. Chapter 9

Evan let himself coast for a little while when he was over the city of Houston. The lights glowed and twinkled brightly like a plate of jewels against the dark ground, made ever so darker by the night that was upon the world. He looked down at the beautiful city, ignoring the slowly picking up rain, hypnotized. Something inside of him demanded blood...

Matt crashed into Evan's back, the shock knocking his breath out and he subconsciously sent both of them into the Dusk. Evan tumbled downwards until he regained his balance and rightened his wings. Matt was hovering above him, and iron spike produced from each palm, his eyes burning with anger. The rain began picking up speed into a full downpour. However, since they both were in the Dusk, it still seemed slower, only each raindrop seemed more frequent, while the drops phased through the immaterial beings inside.

"I have some questions," Matt said coldly. "And I demand some answers."

"You are not in a position to demand!" Evan yelled. The mutant raised his head up, eyes still peering down upon Evan, as though he was demeaning him. "My iron can kill a Demon," Matt said. "I can guess they can kill you too. That is, if I don't get my answers." Evan roared, his armor forming around him in rapid speed.

"Dominance and Jurisdiction!" he howled, and to Matt's surprise, two longswords came out of the top of his forearms and stayed attached. One had a black blade, and one had a red blade. Each had a fanged skull at the bottom of the blade with two spikes jutting out that formed the guard. Matt felt some strange ethereal power seeping out of them, as though they had a mind of their own.

"You stand against me," Evan growled, his armor complete except for his helmet. "You stand against God!" The Dark Angel flew at Matt with blinding speed, sparks flying as the two weapons clashed. Evan quickly disengaged, lightning slowly crashing in the background, and angel and mutant collided again.

Evan began rapidly circling Matt, his weapons a tempest of blades, and while Matt could not physically keep up with him, wherever Evan attacked, two iron spikes rose from Matt's body in a cross, blocking the deadly blades. And while the many spikes were ripping Matt's shirt, he believed it was a small price to pay to staying alive. However, Matt could not effectively launch counterattacks, and he only scored minor scratches onto Evan, all of which healed with rapid speed.

Evan's red eyes reflected that of a madman eager for blood.

Laughing at a final opportunity, Evan made a swipe for the back of Matt's neck. Matt's eyes turned to follow the blade, but two spikes from his vertebrae caught the growling weapon, nearly breaking Matt's own in the process. Evan howled in fury, and Matt flapped back to gain some distance. Matt's eyes widened as he saw Evan grabbing his head, thrashing about as though he was having a spasm. "More!" Evan cried out. "I need more strength!" When Evan's eyes snapped open again, his entire eye was filled red.

Matt watched in horror as Evan began slowly changing from a man to a beast. His stomach grew thin and his spine was clearly identifiable, his skin turned dark, and his facial structure began bending and shaping itself. His gray hair turned into thick black tentacles that moved with a life of their own, and his head turned into that of a four-eyed wolf. His armor disappeared underneath the newly growing muscle and flesh until only a loincloth remained, and Evan's legs bent and twisted until they were that of a wild horse.

Matt's jaw tightened. He knew what Evan had become now. He was a Demon. Whatever trust Matt had of Evan had now shattered into dust.

Now he had no sympathy for having to kill him.

But then, a black colored substance twisted out from the guards of Evan's weapons, reminding Matt of coral. This coral-like substance bent and twisted around Evan's hands, slowly making their way up his arms. The eyes of the skulls of his weapons began glowing red, and he swore he could hear them growling. Once more, Evan came at him. But this time, the tables were turned.

Evan used the same tactic as before, but this time, when Matt guarded with his iron, they shattered under the power of Evan's weapons. The momentum of the attacks were stopped, but Matt was slowly losing more and more iron. Finally, after one of Evan's attacks deflected off of spikes on Matt's shoulder blades, Evan swung down again quickly. Matt gasped as the blade bit into his shoulder, breaking through the layer of iron beneath, and probably cracking the bone beneath. Evan laughed in satisfaction and pulled the weapon out. Matt clutched his shoulder as blood began seeping through, his strength leaving him as the last of his iron was bleeding away.

The Demonic Evan laughed again and rest the black bladed weapon on his right forearm against Matt's neck. He stared his opponent in the eyes, willing to accept his death with honor.

"Do your worst," Matt taunted.

But then a familiar voice brought everything back into place.

We, that is, the flock, Marìa, and Leila, followed Matt and Evan after they left. It wasn't too hard to find them, especially with an undercover agent on our side who can pretty much track everything. Plus they said about being able to sense "auras." I wasn't sure what that meant, but I didn't bother asking and wasting time. We flew over toward the Houston area when suddenly Marìa called us to a halt. She suddenly disappeared for a split second, but then she reappeared, along with a wounded Matt... and a horribly mutated Evan. He was some kind of monstrosity that reminded me of Yanes, the Demon, and I hesitated to calling Evan a Demon himself, but that was certainly what he looked like. Both were hovering about the city, one of Evan's weapons resting on Matt's neck, but Evan himself looked shocked. Next to me, Angel reached out to Matt, seeing his wounded and defeated state. But I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back. This was something we couldn't interfere in, I just knew it. I decided to let Marìa work her magic.

"Evan, this isn't like you," she said, her voice choked with tears. Evan himself was frozen, the only thing keeping him afloat were the steady and unconscious beating of his wings. "You've become something that I don't like, and I know better than to say you've just changed because of who you are. Where is the Evan I love? Where is the Evan I kissed at that sunset, all those years ago? Come back to me Evan, please!" She sniffed and whipped her eyes.

Evan stayed petrified, but I noticed something strange growing around his arms. But now they were moving quickly, frantically, as if trying to take control before it was too late. But it was no use.

"Begone," Evan growled.

Evan crossed his arms and grabbed the substance growing on them, some of it already chipping away. Evan, eyes still blood-red, howled, his head turned to the left, his voice a strange mixture of a dark, deep one and a light, raspy one. "Aaaaah! What do you think you are doing!?" Evan's head snapped back to the other side, his eyes changing from red to yellow. "You are intruding on my mind. Begone!" His head snapped back the other way, filling red again.

"Fool! Don't you see? This is the way to true power!"

Evan's eyes snapped shut, and he began yelling incoherent things, spinning around in the air, his arms never leaving the possessive substance that tried to infest him. At last, Evan's head snapped back as he let out a loud yell.

The substance shattered under his will.

Evan, still in his demonic-like state, hung limp in the air. But then, he dropped as his wings stopped flapping. Marìa was quick however, and caught him before he dropped too far. She and Leila slowly descended, carrying the mentally exhausted Evan between them.

At a nod from Fang, he and I coasted up to Matt, taking his arms around our shoulders, and setting down, the flock behind us. By the time the seven of us landed, Evan's demonic form had melted away, and he was slowly coming to. His eyes blinked open, looking around. His eyes rested on the girl who was holding him. "Marìa...?" he whispered. "Oh God, what happened to me?"

Marìa, on the other hand, smiled through her tears. "Evan..." she whispered as well. "You're back." Without further adieu, her mouth touched his.

Gazzy and Nudge made "bleh!" faces. Angel giggled. Iggy stifled a chuckle. Fang's eyes, always unreadable, looked to me for a split second, then quickly disengaged and looked back to the Angels. Evan and Marìa smiled at each other, but then Evan stood up and looked back to us. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused," he said to us. I rubbed the back of my head. "Well... I guess I can forgive you just this once." He flashed a smile at me, and Marìa got up to the injured Matt. Without saying a word, she placed her hands over the gash on his shoulder. It vanished in a ball of light for only about three seconds before she removed it, and his arm was good as new. Matt rolled his shoulder, testing it out, and nodded his thanks.

"So," Gazzy said at last. "What was that freaky-deaky thing you looked like before you returned to normal?" Evan's eyes flashed a look of despair, but then he returned to being impassive. "That was... my Demonic form. Because I am the Dark Angel, I am half Angel, half Demon--"

"So that was a normal thing for you to do?" Iggy asked suspiciously. Evan hesitated, but then nodded. "The form itself, yes."

Matt shook himself off of Fang's and my shoulders. He gave Evan one look of dislike before he turned, unfurled his bat-like wings, and took off towards Houston.

Evan turned to Marìa, and gave her an apologetic look. She winced sympathetically and nodded to him. He looked to us. "I..." he started.

I smiled. "Go. We'll wait here." Evan nodded, and flew off after Matt to set things right.


	10. Chapter 10

Evan cautiously opened the rickety door of an old, practically bombed-out building in Houston's slums, and found who he was looking for. Matt was kneeling on the ground, facing one of the open windows. His eyes were closed and his hands were together, looking as though he was asking the heavens for guidance. The rain had long-since ceased, and the bright moonlight was shining through the window onto Matt, like God had rest his eye upon him.

Matt opened his eyes slowly and looked behind him. His eyes hardened upon seeing the Dark Angel. "What do you want?" he asked harshly. Evan's shoulders slumped, and he sat on his knees next to Matt. Matt tensed up, but Evan ignored it.

"I have some explaining to do," Evan began slowly.

"I'm listening."

"First of all... about what happened to me. Those people I killed..." he paused, the words he had spoken seemed to have physically bitten him. "It was not of my design. You see... I have two Demon Weapons in my body. They are very powerful, and are useful assets. But... they have minds of their own. If a Demon Weapon is left unsatisfied for so long, it will try to destroy its host. So was the case with me. They were slowly taking possession of my mind, aggravating my moods and making more prone to anger strikes. But thanks to Marìa, I fought back--"

"So you _are_ a demon, then?"

Evan blinked. His eyes drooped for a moment, but then he looked back to the mutant with a more defensive look to his eyes. "I am the Dark Angel. That means I am half Angel, half Demon. It is who I am, so I will not apologize for that. But for what I have done to you and your flock... and to those people... I am deeply sorry."

Matt seemed to not believe him at first, and was seemed ready to snap at him. But suddenly, his eyes softened and he looked down. "So, what about me?"

"You see Matt... you are not normal."  
Matt unfurled his bat wings slightly, glancing behind them. He gave Evan a sarcastic look. "Oh yea? What else do you have for me in breaking news?"

Evan sighed, probably seeing the flaw in his explanation. "For this, I apologize as well, because Marìa and I were not telling you the whole truth. We did sense that you had been in contact with a Demon, that was correct. But when Leila said you had "remnants of Demons" about you, she was not referring to the Incubus. It is hard to explain, but... we get the same type of feeling when we feel an Angel that was once a Demon."

Matt's eyes widened. "Me? I was never a..." His voice trailed off. Evan nodded, confirming Matt's suspicions.

"I do not know what matter of experimentations the Incubus preformed on you, but somehow he infused the essence of a Demon into you. You experienced this..."

"...as Lunacy," Matt finished slowly. Evan nodded once more.

"Lunacy did something to the iron you produce. He left a steady flow of Darkness into those weapons, but it did not disappear after his death. This is why you can kill celestial beings; Angels and Demons. We knew this, but did not want to tell you, because we weren't sure how you would react..." Evan paused as he saw Matt averting his gaze. "You knew all along, didn't you?" Evan asked slowly.

"I... had my suspicions... when you and Marìa came along..." Matt looked back to Evan, but his gaze no longer averted as Evan's red eyes bore into Matt's brown ones.

"I am not surprised," Evan said at last. He held up his hand, and Matt felt a jerk in his pocket. He was surprised to see a possession of his wrap around Evan's fingers; his rosary. Evan's eyes never left Matt's.

"You believe," Evan said levelly.

Matt pierced his lip, but nodded. It was something he did not like to bring in public, especially because of Max's disapproval of such practices.

Evan handed the rosary back to Matt, who wrapped it around his hands and fingers, and pressed his hands together. Evan stood up and positioned himself behind Matt. When Evan spoke, Matt swore his voice was right next to his ear, but he knew in reality he was not. "You have always searched for a higher purpose in your life," Evan said. "I can give you one. However, understand that in doing this, you will no longer be under Max's authority. Also understand that we have never preformed this on a mutant before. I cannot guarantee what will happen to you."

Matt wet his lips nervously. But nonetheless, he clutched the rosary tighter, closing his eyes and resting his head back.

"Do it," he commanded submissively.  
Evan nodded, closed his eyes, and put his hands on his shoulders.

* * *

I tried my best to wait for Matt's return. The flock, Marìa and Leila were all waiting in a back-alley in Houston. It was a little weird with him missing, like I was more vulnerable.

Did I just say that?? Me, _vulnerable!?_ I must be out of my mind.

But on the plus side, Marìa found a new person to rant on; Leila. But hey, at least Leila seemed to put up with it fine. Unlike, say, me. But oh well. I listen to Nudge, and that's enough ranting for me, thank you.

I still had no idea how Evan and Matt would find us when they returned, but Marìa reassured us they would. She also explained to me what happened with Evan, so I wasn't as mad at him anymore.

Suddenly, as though commanded, Marìa and Leila looked in the direction away from the flock and me. Just then, Evan and Matt appeared from nowhere at the end of the alley.

Stupid Angel tricks...

I approached the pair, the flock following behind. I smiled and nodded at Matt, who seemed to have a new glow of happiness around him. "Hey big guy," I said to him, trying to resist the urge to hug him. "How you holdin' up?"

"Good," he said. Evan looked to Matt. "Don't you have something to say?" he asked. Matt nodded at him, then looked to the flock. "I think it'd be best to show you," he said slowly. I tensed up unconsciously, waiting for what he had in store for us.

Then, Matt unfurled his wings slowly. But... something was different. They weren't the black and brown bat wings I had grown so used to knowing. They were bright white wings, just like ours! My mouth gaped open.

"Max... I've ascended. I've become an Angel," he said unnecessarily.

"You're _dead!_" Angel cried out. Despite himself, Matt covered him mouth to suppress a laugh. "No sweetie, far from it. I'm what's called a Living Angel. I'm still alive, but I have all of the power of an Angel. Plus..." he held out his forearm, and formed a row of iron spikes. "...I get to keep my mutations," he finished with a dumb grin.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped even further. That... was incredible! And yet... I understood what it meant, and it caused my heart to sink like the Titanic. Fang knew too, because he said with no particular emotion "You're leaving us, then?"

Matt's smile left him, but he nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "I must be taken to where duty calls. I am to help keep the world safe from Demons."

I heard a sniffle next to me, and I looked down to see Angel wiping her eyes. _Oh boy,_ I thought, just in time for my own tears to start forming. I bit my lip to suppress them. Matt knelt to one knee, holding his arms out toward Angel. Without further reinforcement, she rushed into his open arms and hugged him tightly. He picked her up and hugged her back, just like a real caretaker would. "I'll miss you, little Angel," he whispered, his voice husky from withholding his sadness, and kissed her hair.

He set her down and approached Gazzy next. The little guy was trying his best to look brave, but when Matt got close to him, he let himself go. Gazzy wrapped his little arms around Matt's waist, trying his best not to cry. Matt smiled down at him, hugged him back with one hand, and ruffled his hair with the other.

Next was Nudge. She collided with him just as he turned toward her. She was whispering incoherent things to him while he patted her back and consoled her. After her was Iggy. Nothing big, Matt just patted him on the shoulder and told him to take it easy. Iggy nodded.

After that was Fang. Matt placed a hand on his shoulder, and Fang returned the gesture. "Sorry if I... you know... caused trouble," Matt whispered to him, making a little gesture with his head toward me. Fang's mouth quirked. "No worries," he responded.

Finally, he approached me. We looked at each other for several moments, our looks telling each other of a world that could never be. Eventually, because he was too shy to, I hugged him. He carefully hugged me back. "I'll come visit you guys," he whispered into my ear. I kissed his cheek, and felt his body shudder. "You'd better," I whispered back.

When the goodbyes were over, Matt walked backwards, still watching us, toward the group of Angels, next to Leila and Evan. "I think it's time Marìa and I got going," Evan said at last. To answer my unasked question, Leila chimed in. "I'll be taking Matt under my wing," she said. "I'll make sure he doesn't get himself killed." She smiled, to ease us a bit. Evan nodded, then looked to us, but particularly rested his eyes on me. He grinned, making my heart stop for a second. "Next time you need some help," he said. "Say a prayer or two." With that, the Dark Angel and his companion took off, disappearing into the night sky.

Leila patted Matt's back. "Come on," she said in the softest tone I've heard her speak. "Let's get going." Matt nodded to her slowly, then looked back to us one last time.

"Goodbye," he said, then leapt into the air with his mentor and newest friend, unfurling his new wings and flying into the sky. The six of us watched them go, most of us with tears in our eyes.

I truly believe that only now has he found his happiness...


End file.
